Ok folks, heres a neat story that happened to me today. I went to the drivethru ATM at my Apache account bank today to withdrawl some cash for Sundays coin show. I insert my card and it prompts me to " Press 1 to continue in English" This is new, has not happened to me at this bank before. I grumble and press 1. " Press Yes to confirm you wish to continue in English" Thats it, enough is enough. I instead press cancel, park my truck, enter the bank and close my account. When asked why, I told them. Went accross the street and opened another biz account. F 'em.
Jack, I shall relate this story at work tomorrow as my coworker went through the same thing and took similar action. Para Espanol marca dos is bad enough but press 1 to speak our NATIONAL LANGUAGE. I'd be cussing in Spanish. Dan
Sadly, The US does not have an official language. I do agree with both of you though, enough is enough. When in ROME, do as the ROMANS. When in the US, SPEAK ENGLISH.
Here in New Zealand,an increasing amount of signs bilingually inscribed in English & Maori.The problem is,there are very few people who can read Maori very well,let alone speaking it. It's a case of 'political correctness' gone insane. Aidan.
It doesnt piss me off to have to push 1 for english...then again I live in an area where there is probably more Spanish spoken than English. Its not that big of a deal to me. Belgium is bilingual...part of the country speaks French, the other part Dutch...many there speak english or all three. Most Europeans speak english as well as their native language and many things are in English as they know that many people who visit might not speak their native language but can understand english so I often see things that a displayed in multiple languages...I just dont see it as being that terrible and it common some for countries to do things in multiple languages... Where I live all street signs are in English but in some places, where there is a big Asian community the signs are also in Chinese...that probably would burn you up as well Houston is a highly multicultural city with large populations of Spanish and Asians...I have always seen that as a good thing. My best friends in HS were a guy from Korea, a Guy from Thailand, and a Mexican...taught me a lot just knowing them.
Note: I am bilingual as well, I also speak Spanish semi fluently. I do however wish to conduct my banking in English. I do travel to Mexico frequently, well use to anyways, and when there, I spoke Spanish. I did not expect the Mexicans to learn English to accomodate me when I was in the country, I learned the language of the country I visited. My wife was born in Rome Italy. Her and her parents all came legally and learned English.
I don't see how you could not do your banking in English simply because it asked you which your prefer. It seems instead that just the idea of being given a choice pissed you off. I certainly do NOT learn the language of the countries I visit...I am about to travel to Norway on business and I have done this 3 times before and I still do not know even a single word of Norwegian, maybe this time I will try to pick up a word or two . I also visited Brazil, Pakistan and a number of other places and again...barely a word. I depended on others to speak English. Nor do I think I should be expected to learn a whole language simply because I visit the country here and there. Luckily, in every place I go, there are people who speak English and often other things are in English to help me get by...Norway is tough, I find they are less likely to have things in English though most speak it at least. The only other language I know, and know rather well, is Spanish...I have only been to Mexico maybe 3 or 4 times but I live so close to the border, I use Spanish all the time in my daily life. I do think that if you are in this country for long enough, you should learn English and I think most do. Its just a lot of people still communicate much better in native tongues. My father in law is from Pakistan and he can speak English but it isn't very good and he often will, when struggling for words...simply tell his wife what he wants to say in Urdu because she is very fluent in English as she was a teacher and she then explains what he said. My wife and brother in law do not know Urdu well.
It was not the " being given a choice " that pissed me off at all, it was " being FORCED to choose ". Last I checked,this was America. I speak Spanish because it helps me get along in southern Arizona, and I like being able to listen and communicate with others who do not speak English. Now I can be a smart ass and say the folks that do my lawn work, but it is true. Only their supervisor speaks English, lol. My mechanic who works on my truck is not good in English, it helps there as well, another thing, I love Mexican music and I can understand the words. The boat ramp hands at the lake do not speak English. The " roach-coach " lunchwagon ladies at work do not speak English. I started picking up Spanish in the 80's while living in Los Angeles, and thought it was fun, so I took classes. Before I married my wife, I dated a hispanic woman who also helped me learn Spanish. You want to do business in America? Do it in English.
Fair enough, I just dont see it as that much of a bother having to choose one or the other. Yes, this is America...as such Spanish has been spoken here as long, if not longer than English. Many parts of America were originally spanish speaking areas and if anything I think both are pretty common here. I am most surprised that you could find ANY bank teller machine that doesnt do both Spanish and English. I think most people who do come here and stay here end up speaking the language, but I also think its a good idea to give those who dont a choice as your most common second language spoken in America is Spanish and that isnt some terrible thing...like you say, there are a lot of people doing business here working hard, that dont speak it like the lawn guys and thats their right, and your right not to deal with them (though it seems you do). The longer they are here, the more they will pickup and learn it...I do business in a lot of countries but I do it in english as I dont know their languages and dont feel I should need to learn the language of every country I do business in. This seems like a non-issue to me...Spanish will not replace English in America although it is, without doubt, a common language spoken in America and will continue to be so...so you have to hit one or two more key strokes to get your money out of an Auto teller...not a big deal...to each his own though.
I really can understand why Level Headed would be upset. If our transactions are done in English why should we have to press a button to complete a transaction? I too live in an area of many cultures. The drywallers that work for my boss are all Mexican except one - he's Columbian. All are legal and speak good English or are at least still striving to learn it. I have no problem with that. English is not an easy language. I used to run into a bunch of electricians fairly often. All Macedonian. I'd walk into a building and they'd be going back and forth in their language. Course if I said "good morning" they'd jump right over to perfect English. "Para Espanol marca dos" is fine. I can understand businesses wanting to make profits from the Spanish speaking community. Press 1 for English is kind of a slap in the face though. JMHO
Dan, Have you ever been up to Quebec? They're a pretty funny breed of people up there.Did you know that Quebec is the only part of the entire British Commonwealth that actually has a 'language police force'? The provincial government has given the 'language police force' the power to fine businesses who desplay signs that have English as the predominantly shown language or as the only language.Some business owners have had their premises closed down,thanks to the heavy-handed approach of the 'language police'. Anglo-Quebecers have been forced to leave Quebec as a result of successive provincial governments imposing some extremely racist legislation,which the gutless wonder called the Supreme Court of Canada won't invalidate. Aidan.
I'm bilingual as well having been born in South America and it does bother me when I see a sign stating Spanish spoken here or a menu on the phone saying press 2 for Spanish. I just think it makes it that much harder for a Spanish speaking individual to learn English fluently. It's tough enough to learn another language and if there's no incentive why bother. Before my parents immigrated to the US they took English lessons and continued taking them after they arrived here. Here in the US they would only listen to the English speaking radio stations and they still had problems with the pronunciation of English words even after 40 years. Lou
Welcome aboard,Lou.It's good to see someone who is more than qualified to clarify the situation as far as the language debate over there in America goes. We have now got children who are being forced to learn the Maori language (which is actually a group of languages with distinctive differences in pronounciation from area to area) in school.Hardly anyone is fluent in it,yet there are a lot of bilingual signs (which are a pain in the ass,& often the spelling & meaning is wrong,especially in my home town of Wanganui,which has a very distinctive form of the Maori language that can be classed almost as a separate language.).I used to be taught odd phrases,but I've forgotten most of them,considering that English is the most commonly spoken language over here in New Zealand. Aidan.
